GRAB A PACK, FORGET HOME

"During the past year 12,000 Moslems and Croats left
through the Office alone. Mostly they do not wish to stay on
the territory of former Yugoslavia, but want to go abroad.
We maintain radio and phone links with the Moslem and Croat
sides. In principle, we never had any problems. We observe
what was agreed, we transfer some people, sit down and have
a drink. And that's that". These are the words of Radovan
Glogovac, Chief of the Emigration Office in Banjaluka.

AIM, Beograd, November 12, 1995

In Banjaluka there are no collective centers for the
remaining Moslems and Croats, they do not wear a yellow
ribbon, or a white band around their sleeves, but their
lives are in danger. Unidentified people in uniforms
forcibly throw them out of their flats, they get late night
phone calls and threats, armed men knock on their doors. And
while the majority of Serbian refugees, the number of which
has probably grown, bravely endure their misfortune still
under the open sky, some of the newcomers cannot suppress
their anger with the fact that, allegedly "Balias and
Ustashi" are being protected, while they had to leave all
their belongings behind. Summarily they throw people out of
their houses, often not allowing them to take even the bare
necessities. They rob everything and then continue their
journey towards Serbia.

Smacks and a Knuckle-Duster

The Office for Displacing Persons located in the
settlement of Mejdan is the last address in Banjaluka to
which the Moslems and Croats come these days. In the last
couple of years this Office organized the emigration of
those who "wanted" that. People constantly come asking for
the time of departure. The direction is Bocac and after that
Croatia, while the Moslems go towards Travnik.

- "There were two policemen. One from Mrkonjic Grad,
the other from Kljuc. I showed them my papers, those proving
that my son, although a Moslem, is in the army of the
Republic of Srpska as well as those on my tenant's rights.
They tore them to pieces. I was thrown out of my flat and,
here, I managed to take out only what I have on me. But,
what I would like most is to die in my native Banjaluka", -
tells us eighty-eight years old Jusup Jusupovic, denizen of
Banjaluka, in the Office for the Displacement of Persons,
Dislocation and Exchange of Material Resources in Banjaluka.

He came to report as he was leaving. Asked where he
was heading to - he shrugs his shoulders. He has one son in
Germany, but he will most probably go to his relatives in
Travnik. - "My fellow citizens from Banjaluka, the Serbs,
never touched me. This is the work of those newcomers, " -
says Jusupovic. - "We go over Bocac. The Moslems pay DM 160
for the transportation, plus DM 20 for each bag, and the
Croats DM 60, while the price per bag is the same".

Branislava Z. is of Serb nationality, her husband is
a Croat. They have two children, a 12 year-old son and an 18
year-old daughter.

-"We do not know where we are going, nor what are we
going to do. Why didn't they invent a state for mixed
marriages? It's all the same who would rule. Why don't they
leave us in peace", - she asks.

They scraped together the money for the journey with
great difficulty. Still, they did not wish to stay in
Croatia. She heard that in Zagreb there were three
collective centers for mixed marriages, wherefrom they are
sent further on abroad. But, she does not hide that she
fears the journey through the empty and plundered cities all
over the Knin Krajina. - "We wouldn't be caught dead there,"
- says Branislava in the end.

Adila and Dzemal V. were evicted from their house a
few days ago. They were beaten up before that. They slapped
her in the face and hit her husband with a knuckle-duster.
There were three of them, all armed and in uniforms. Adila
only said that they were not from Banjaluka, but was afraid
to add anything else about them.

-"We know that the Croats are not willing to accept
us Moslems in Croatia, and we do not want to go to Bosnia.
We are both from Banjaluka and are accustomed to living in a
multinational environment. My husband was for some time on
work duty here, he dug trenches on the front," says Adila.
-"We even took in some Serbian refugees from Mrkonjic Grad.
Those people were also sad to see what was going on, but
they were unable to help. We did not take anything from the
house and are presently staying with some friends Serbs".

Ankica and Vida Ilicic from Sanski Most also came to
the Office for Displacement. They are both Croatian by
nationality, their husbands are Serbs and are currently at
the Serbian war theatre. They did not want to stay under the
Moslem authorities in Sanski Most. They know that there is
no future for them in Banjaluka either.

-"We have relatives in Croatia and shall try to
reach them, and then on, abroad. But we would like most of
all to go back to Sanski Most. We do not expect anything
good in Croatia either. We know that to be a Croat from
Bosnia is not the same as to be a native Croat. We heard
that they move in our people into robbed Serbian houses in
Glamoc and Grahovo. Well, I would rather die," - says
Ankica.

We Have a Drink - and That's That

"Persons who do not wish to stay on the territory of
the Republic of Srpska must have the approval of the
Ministry of Defence and unregister with the Department of
the Ministry of the Interior. And if they have a
socially-owned flat, they have to put it at the disposal of
the Serbian authorities. In addition, they must submit a
written request with an application for departure", says
Radovan Glogovac, head of this Office.

Glogovac emphasizes that bad things are going on in
the town, which escape control because of the large number
of refugees from Krajina. He points out that most of the
police force is on the front lines, while only a small
number is here to protect the town from hoodlums.

-"We have cases of evicted Moslems and Croats who
were returned to their houses. But, after bad experiences
these people mostly wish to go, they are afraid to stay
here. This Office started working in May 1992. Its work was
suspended for seven-eigth months during 1994. The greatest
number of non-Serbian people who wanted to leave reported
after the fall of the Knin Krajina. One of these days we
intend to introduce the free of charge transportation of
these people to their destinations.

The procedure takes two days to complete. Then it
all depends on the Moslem and Croat sides - when they will
give the green light for transfer to their territory.
Glogovac was unable to say how many Moslems and Croats
exactly left Banjaluka because they went through the
International Committee of the Red Cross, UNHCR, and many
private agencies who organized their departure, often for a
high price.

-"During the last year 12,000 Moslems and Croats
left through the Office. They mostly do not wish to stay on
the territory of former Yugoslavia, but want to go abroad",
says Glogovac. -"We maintain radio and phone links with the
Moslem and Croat sides. In principle, we never had any
problems. We observe what was agreed, we transfer some
people, sit down and have a drink. And that's that."

What happens with these unfortunate and tormented
people then?

Glogovac emphasizes that UNHCR confirmed that the
Moslems who lately crossed over to the Croatian place Davor
over the Sava river, were mobilized and sent to the Bihac
and Travnik war theatres. He claims that before the fall of
the Knin Krajina, as well as a part of Serbian territory,
the Croatian side was not interested in the Croats from
Banjaluka, so that for a while it did not accept them. On
the other hand, the Moslem side willingly took in the Moslem
inhabitants, but was unwilling to let the Serbs go from its
territory. He himself left Zenica illegally, walking over
fields and swamps for twelve days.

As Far from Here as Possible

Ethnic cleansing of Moslems and Croats in Banjaluka
has continuously been going on ever since war broke out, in
greater or lesser intensity and has now been brought to its
end. In Slavonia at the beginning of the war in September
1991 when mobilization started in the town, many members of
all the three nations who did not feel like fighting, left.

Later on, when the war started spreading in Bosnia,
Moslems were demanded to "sign their allegiance". Instead of
being soldiers in what until yesterday was the Yugoslav
People's Army, for the sake of survival (to save the lives
of their family, old parents or their property), some agreed
to become soldiers of the Republic of Srpska. It was hardest
on those whose children had left these territories. But it
was not easy either for those who did not want to go to war,
nor leave Banjaluka. There was no paper that could protect
them. Those who did not agree, could not get their military
service book verified, their family members lost their jobs
and hence a flat or house. They could leave only
"voluntarily".

And those Moslems and Croats who fought in the
Serbian army finally also left because of "the never ending
war, utterly absurd and sensless" (as they said), as well as
of their half-starved families and the impossibility to live
any longer under the illusion that things would nevertheless
return to normal. They were eager to get to some foreign
country through Croatia and finally settle down, but were
forced into different uniforms on the other side.

The situation drastically deteriorated for the
remaining Moslems and Croats of Banjaluka with the fall of
western Slavonia, the Knin Krajina and a large part of the
Bosnian Krajina. Thousands of angry refugees came to the
town. Predrag Radic, M.A., Mayor of Banjaluka, warned the
newcoming refugees that they should leave the local
non-Serbian population alone, especially those who had
someone fighting in the war.

How valid this warning was is best shown by the
resignation of those last to leave. Still vivid were
memories of the period when Croat or Moslem houses were
riddled by bullets or blown up by explosives during night.
At this moment the town is without electricity which further
aggravates the situation. Whispering, people claim that it
is no longer possible to know who comes from which part and
fear meeting members of all sorts of different police
forces. Also, many bullying, armed, uncontrollable and
nervous men have become rich on other people's property.
Proof are well stocked commission shops.

The Moslems and Croats from Banjaluka are bitter as
no one protected them. Even today people in Banjaluka
remember how Adolf Pihler a bishop of Banjaluka for many
years did not shrink from fiercely opposing the persecution
of Serbs from Banjaluka during the NDH (Independent State of
Croatia) in World War II. He appealed to Ante Pavelic
himself. There are still stories of the petition of twenty
renowned Moslems and Croats of Banjaluka of that time
written against the persecution of the Serbs.

During these years of hardship for the non-Serbian
population only the weak Liberal Party, headed by its
President Miodrag Zivanovic, Ph.D.,professor of philosophy,
condemned the persecutions and warned of all the consequnces
of the "blood and soil".

And Sabahudin Karic waits every night for a knock on
his door. He put up Serbian refugees in his house, but to no
avail. Some uniformed men came several times. He has
prepared to go, but is afraid of what is waiting for him on
the other side. Namely, he spent two years in the Serbian
army.

-"I mostly grieve for my children. We have not slept
for nights. I have two best friends left: a Croat and a
Serb. If politicans got along as the three of us do,
everything would be great", - says Sabahudin Karic. -"I have
papers to go to America and only want to be safe when I get
to the Croatian side. The situation everywhere on the
territory of the former Yugoslavia is the same, and it will
be so as long as national parties are in power. I want to
take my family as far from here as possible. I am tired of
living in this madness for the fifth year now and when the
war stops we will all live in poverty and misery. And I will
keep memories of my native Banjaluka as it was before the
war. Memories are the only thing many of us have left".